Great guide, was looking for something like this. I think we need a thread like this for every card so buyers know what they get. I agree that most reviews are worth nothing in terms of really tearing the card apart.

I am suprised that the Windforce gets a name for being loud. I always hear people saying omg it is so silent. I was actually going to get one because of that. Why don't they include 3 100mm fans at very low rpm? Don't like the blue PCB anyway. Then what are my best options for silence besides asus dc2?(I can't accommodate a 3 slot card). And are you planning to do a guide like this for the 670 as well?

Actually I'm not so sure about Twin Frozr being a bad cooler. I noticed a couple things with that MSI card after reading the forums about quite a while. In general, the MSI Twin Frozr cards come with extremely high ASIC quality and apparently have very little leak and I think that's one of the reason it runs hot. Twin Frozr has never been a bad cooler as far as i know, it was always on the top and still is. On the other hand, Gigabyte have low ASIC, and look, they don't even have heatsink on the VRM and it runs cool, so does the core. On the other hand, MSI cards have heatsink on the VRM and all, but I still haven't see anyone having good temp on the core or vrm on these. It's a mysterious card really.

I have to disagree with the IceQ turbo's cooler being " weak". At 1050/1300 stock voltage it stays at 65c or below for me on any game I play. I can't say the same for benchmarks as I don't care about them, I care about "real world" performance. HIS base models on the other hand, I have bought bad & hot cards that died on less than a year without OCing. Also I'm not into gpgpu stuff, so whatever@whatever performance doesn't really matter to me either. There are more gamers who bought 7950s than you might think.

There's already a huge discussion posted above on why the IceQ Turbo is weak relative to other coolers.

Also, gaming doesn't put any stress on your card anyways. During gaming I never go above 55C, so what, doesn't help when I'm almost hitting 90C in GPGPU work. I think you'll find your IceQ Turbo won't be so cool when you run 1050mhz//1300@1.25v. The IceQ having a stock voltage of 1.03v is a bit ridiculous to compare to, as most cards use 1.15-1.25v as stock voltage. This also has a lot to do with the fact that the IceQ Turbo is sold as an extremely low clock rate relative to other aftermarket cards.

Gaming is hardly 'real world' performance, and any GPU is going to stay cool if all you do is game. I'm glad your IceQ Turbo is working for you for gaming, but I think you'll find any model adequate for gaming. The problem is that GPGPU work will take a massive dump on your 7950 no matter what cooler you use. And no I think you are wrong, go look at the newegg reviews on who bought 7950s. Also, gamers don't tend to buy 10+ 7950s at a time.

These kind of anecdotal, useless reports are what I'm trying to fight. It's perfectly fine to say "my IceQ Turbo works for gaming", but when you go around saying "My IceQ Turbo is a great cooler, as in it's definitely better than other cards", you cause misinformation and problems as it's worse relative to most coolers, and it's going to be inadequate for people who actually use their graphics cards.

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My MSI twin froze at 1130/1510 1.163v stays around 65 ...

I'd expect any card to stay cool at such a low voltage, but you need to tell us what application this is in, if this is inside a case or not, case ventilation, and if you use A/C before we even come close to thinking this is relevant information.

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I am suprised that the Windforce gets a name for being loud. I always hear people saying omg it is so silent. I was actually going to get one because of that. Why don't they include 3 100mm fans at very low rpm? Don't like the blue PCB anyway. Then what are my best options for silence besides asus dc2?(I can't accommodate a 3 slot card). And are you planning to do a guide like this for the 670 as well?

Thanks.

Any card is going to be silent on 50% speed, and the Windforce's fan profile is set in such a way that it runs on low speed most of the time. 3 fans can either be extremely quiet... or extremely loud.

If you want the quietest GPU, then you need to be looking at 2x90mm models if you don't want to replace the fans. They are all similarly quiet/loud. If it's extremely important to you, then you might want to consider the PCS+.

I have no plan for a guide like this for the 670 since I don't use the 670.

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Actually I'm not so sure about Twin Frozr being a bad cooler. I noticed a couple things with that MSI card after reading the forums about quite a while. In general, the MSI Twin Frozr cards come with extremely high ASIC quality and apparently have very little leak and I think that's one of the reason it runs hot. Twin Frozr has never been a bad cooler as far as i know, it was always on the top and still is. On the other hand, Gigabyte have low ASIC, and look, they don't even have heatsink on the VRM and it runs cool, so does the core. On the other hand, MSI cards have heatsink on the VRM and all, but I still haven't see anyone having good temp on the core or vrm on these. It's a mysterious card really.

You seem to be confusing things like a good card - ASIC quality, for example - with a bad cooler. From what I understand, ASIC quality also means nothing, it seems there's a lot of misinformed people thinking that ASIC means anything. People have even shown that it has no correlation to temperatures either. However ASIC seems to be a big grey area so I don't really want to get into it. But if you do, please provide a source.

As for gigabytes not having heatsinks on the VRM and running 'cool', that entirely depends on what you are doing. They don't run so cool during GPGPU work inside a case, and it takes a simple google search to see coil whine is widespread with gigabytes. Now coil whine is an issue with all 7950 models amongst true users, but especially with gigabytes.

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could someone help me find a 7950 with either a 7970 pcb or reference 7950 pcb with voltage support and hyinx memory

I just want to get decent price to quality ratio im not bothered so much about cooling as I was going to use my bracket with a h60 (after I mod it) to cool the gpu and find some ram and vrm coolers

sorry im in the uk and use scan ebuyer amazon and overclockers,
Edited by richie_2010 - Today at 10:12 am

HIS IceQx2 for a 7970 PCB. They often come with Hynix but no guarantee anymore. The only cards to be guaranteed with Hynix nowadays is Gigabytes. Wanting a decent price to quality ratio can happen with any card at the right price.

A gigabyte is probably your best bet for a reference 7950 with hynix and just going to replace the cooler, no voltage control though.